Daily Archives: January 12, 2018

January 13 marks the passing of Paul Niggli. Niggli was a Swiss mineralogist who was a pioneer of x-ray crystallography. Niggli developed the mathematical system of space groups that defined 230 different 3-D atom arrangements based on x-ray diffraction patterns. X-ray crystallography works by shining x-ray radiation through a crystal […]

Do you admire the simple elegance of dry flowers? Here’s a science experiment that makes use of those little packets that say “Do No Eat” you find with shoes, electronics, and other products. The packets contain silica gel beads, which are silicon dioxide (sand) with a porous surface. The pores […]